Car-door-locking device



Spt. 4, 1928;

W. E. WINE CAR DOOR LOCKING DEVICE Filed March 17, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 2 Sheets-Sheet 52 H M NH: I l ll H i '1 II' M I H ll H II I :1 :i I" E 1 Ii: l

- Inventor.

W 1mm 1:.- W218, 11v

W. E; WINE CAR DOOR LOCKING DEVICE Flled March 1'? 1922 Sept. 4, 1928.

Patented Sept. 4, 1928.

UNITED STATES ILLIAM E. WINE, OF TOLEDO OHIO.

C'AR-DOOR-LOCKINGDEVICE.

Application filed March 17, 1922. Serial-No. 544,416.

My invention relates to new anduseful improvements in supporting and locking devices for freight car doors, and has for its object to provide an advantageous construction involving the combination of a plurality of hooks pivotally mounted on the side of the car body, a shaft ext-ending longitudinally of the car body provided at predeter mined intervals. with members adapted to cooperate with the hooks, the car doors being equipped with arms or brackets adapted to be engaged by the respective hooks to thereby support the doors iii-closed position, and 'tliemcmberson the shaft which cooperate with the hooks being capable of forcing said hooks into or out of engagement with the brackets carried by the doors when the longitudinally extended shaft is shifted in the proper direction to effect the result desired.

Another object of the invention is to .provide a supporting and locking device for the drop doors of a freight car permitting the latter to drop successively andallowingany of the doors to be closed and supportedin any order desired.

Still another object of the invention 1s to provide means for readily lockingaga nst longitudinal movement and quickly releas ing a lrmgituoinally extending shaft which is slidably mounted in brackets secured to the carside sill and is furnished with means for succ vely actuating pivoted hooks employed for supporting drop doo rsof car.

A still further object of the invention 15 to provide a locking device which may be i-cv ly attached. to freight cars having drop bottom doors, which is comparatively cheap to manufacture, is easily assembled, and is ethic-lent in scrvic i-arv feature of the invention conproi'iding for thedrop doors of a freight car supper W and lockingdevices comprising a plurality of hooks pivotally mounted on t e side of adapted su'i'ig into ment with suitable brackets secured to the door and extending beyond the free edge of the latter, in combination with a longi tudinallv extending shaft provided with means for successively rotating the hooks so the car body and supporting engage as to'relea'se the doors one after another, means also being provided whereby the several hooks are locked in door supporting position through the intermediacy of means operating to lock said shaft.

A further feature of the invention consists in providing a door locking mechanism capable of supporting and locking in supported position all the drop doors on one side of a freight car, the said locking mecha nism comp ising a plurality of brackets rigidly secured to the side sill of the car and adapted to'form pivotal supports for a plurality of door supporting hooks as well as to afford bearings for the support of a horizontally extending shaft upon which are mounted a plurality of pairs of fingers corresponding in number to the door supporting hooks, the said lingers being adapted to actuate the hooks so as to cause the "latter to engage with or be disengaged from angleirons or brackets secured to the car doors and being so related that the hooks may be successively released, thereby enabling the doors to be released with a less application of force than would be necessary to release all the doors at one time. i

Other objects of the invention and other features of construction residing particular details of elements and combinations of parts will be hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims.

in the drawings which show apreferred embodiment of the invention,-

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side elevational view of a freight car having door locking mechanism embodying the invention applied thereto. 7

gore 2 is a. fragmentary side elevation 0 ieconstruction shown in Fig. 1 on an en- 'lar ed scale.

Figure 3 is a detail side elevation of a portion of the mechanism on a still larger I scale, one of the'door supporting hooks being shown in locked position.

Figure f-is a fragmentary cross sectional view showi a. portion of the center sill of scar, a portion of a hopper and the relation of the longitudinal shaft to one of the door SllppOltlllg hooks and the bracket upon which said hook is pivotally mounted.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary end elevation of a portion of the device, showlng the handle end of the longitudinal shaft of the lockin gitudinal shaft, its handle and a catch for' cooperating with the latter to retain the shaft in locked position, the parts being shown in locked'relation in Fig. 6- and in unlocked relation in. Fig. 7.

Figures 8, 9 and 10 are detail views of one of the fingers secured to the operating shaft.

The locking device is shown as applied to the doors on one side of the car, but it 1s to be understood thata similar arrangement is to be employed on the other side.

The freight car 1 which has been chosen for the purpose-of illustrating the invention is furnished with drop bottom doors 2 which are hinged along theirrear edges (see Fig.4) to suitable brackets 3 riveted to the center sill 4. Each of these doors is provided with suitable armsflor brackets which may conveniently consist of angle irons 5 attached to thebottomofflthe door and extending outwardly beyond the freeedge of the door upon which they are mounted. The carvillustrated in the drawings is of the type having a hopper 6, the

' which are respectively provided with bosses 11 forming pivotal vsupports for door supporting hooks 12. Eachof the brackets 10 is preferably also fashioned with a downwardly extending arm 13 in the lower end of which a bearing 14; is provided. 1 Suitably supported in the bearings '14 is, a shaft 15 which preferably extends longitudinally of the car throughout the full length of the latter. and which may advantageously be tion. I V i 'lhejaw or supporting ledge of each-of either squareor rectangular incross sec- 5 the pivotedhooks 12 is adapted to extend .undenand engage the upper or horizontal leg of the corresponding angle iron 5 car ried by the adjacent'door, the doors being arms 5, and also to enable said hooks to be swung into supporting relation to the angle" irons 5 and maintained in su chp osition, the shaft 15- is provided'with a plurality of fingers 16. These fingers, which are preferably'in the ,formof clamps embracing the shaft, are arranged in pairs, each hook be:

' are fingers 16 is formed in two pieces which'are held by a bolt 17 Thefingers are formed withrectangular or square portions 18 and with arentrallv disposed round opening 19,

while the shaft 15 is notchedat predetermined intervals so as to provide round bearing portions 20 over whichthe two' halves of the fingers 16 are clamped. The square portions 18 of the fingers by receiving and conare rigidly mounted on the shaft in a simple manner. Y

- The notches 20 in the shaft 15 are so positioned that eachofthe hooks 12 intervenes between the neighboring pair of the fingers 16, one of said fingers for each hook being adapted to contact the hook with which it is associated when the latter-is in supportlng engagementwith the angle iron door arm5. By this means theseveral hooks M revented from swinging to released pos tion when the shaft 15 is locked against shift ng As is shown in the portions A and B of Fig. 2, each door is preferably sustained V in closed position by two hooks. While the several fingers 16 which are located to the rear of the hooks (considerin the right hand end as the front of the car l are all designed to simultaneouslyengag e the respective hooks when thelatter are in locked osition, the'fingers 16 which are in front 0 thehooks are progress vely spaced in pairs, so

that the fingers in front of the hooks asso-- ciated with one doorare nearer tosaid hooks than are the corresponding fingers located in front of thehooks ofthe nextdoor. The i lost mot-ion connections between the shaft 15 and the hooks 1 2 which result from, this progressive spacing "of the fingers enables the doorsto be released successively Thus, a movement of the shaft 15 to the left will cause the fingers 16in front of the hooks associated with the portion B ofthe car to contact their hooks and force them from' engagement wltlrth'e door arm angleirons 5 before the fingers 16 in frontofthe hooks of the portion A'ofthe car force their hooks from supporting engagement'with the angle,

irons 5 of the adjacent door 2. In other words,the fingers 16 located to the front of thefhooksare' progressively spaced in pairs througout the lengthof the shaft 15,'so, that a movementof the shaft in a rearward direction will successively actuate the hooks and 1 issimultaneously. This V on. car is adapted to stand in front of and enwithout the necessity of manipulating the shaft 15, is possible because of the spaced relation of "the fingers 16 between which the hooks intervene. When it is desired to lock the doors after they have been swung upwardly and supported in closed position by the hooks 12, the shaft '15 is simply pulled forwardly so that the fingers 16 to the rear of the respective hooks force and hold all of the vsaid hooks in locking engagement with the corresponding door arm angle irons carried by the doors I As well shoi'v'n in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, means are provided forshifting the shaft 15 longitudinally and for locking it in its forward position corresponding to the locked positions of thedoor supporting hooks 12. y The means for actuating theshaft and -for locking it are preferably formed by providing the shaftnear its "end with a notch 21 for receiving a two-piece handle 22 clamped thereon. in such manner as to be capable o'f rotating slightly with respect to theshaft but without capability of longitudinal movement there- A catch 23 formed on the end -oftl e gage the handle when the shaft 15 is in its outermost position corresponding to the locked position of the hooks 12, while located above the catch 23 is a pivoted dog or cam 24 adapted to be rotated into engagement with the said handle to prevent the latter from becoming accidentally I released from its retaining catch 23. VVl-ien the doors are to be unlocked the dog 24 will be swung to the position shown in Fig. 7 and the operat: ing handle 22 will be swung-upwardly a distance sufficient to clear the catch The shaft 15 may be thereafter caused to execute a rearward longitudinal movement enabling the fingers 16 which are in front of the door supporting hooks to successively disengage said hooks from the angle iron door arms 5 of the doors, thusreleasingsaid doors one after the other. lVhcn the hooks have been disengaged from their respective door arms 5, the rod 15 will be moved midway between its extremities of travel so that the handle 22- will rest on the catch lug 23, thus bringing the hook actuating fingers 16 to a posh tion permitting the hooks to be swung as desired in either direction and thereby enabling the doors to be closed in any order desired.

It will be perceived that my invention provides means for releasing one or more of the doors by operationswhich are easily performed and that the locking of the doors is likewise easily accomplished,

Many sligh'tchanges may be nade without in any way 'departing from the spirit and scipe of the invention, and I do not wish to be in an way limited to the 'form of car shown, as the invention may be equally applied to many other forms of cars having drop bottom or similar doors. 1 Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Let ters Patent is:

1. In combination with a freight car having a plurality of drop bottom doors, hooks pivotally mounted along the side of the car for supporting said doors, a shaft disposed longitudinally of the car body and having fingers thereon so spaced as to act on said hooks successively when said shaft is moved in one direction to force said books from a supporting relation with said doors and therebypermit said doors to swing to an open. position.

2. In combination with a freight'car having a 'plurality of drop bottom doors, hooks pivotally mounted on "the side of the car for supporting said doors, a shaft disposed longitudinally of the car bodyand having fingers thereon so'spaced as to act on said hooks successively when said shaft is moved in one direction to force the said hooks from a siipportmg relation with said doors and thereby permitsaid doors to swing to an open position, and further fingers on said shaft for forcing said hooks into locked "relation with said doors when said shaft is moved in the opposite direction.

3. In combination with a freight car having a plurality of drop bottom doors, hooks pivotally mounted on the side of the car for supporting said doors, a shaft disposed "longitudinally of the ear body and having fingers thereon so spaced as to act on said ,hoo {S successively when said shaft is moved ing a plurality of drop bottom doors, brackets mounted along the car body, hooks pivotally mounted on said brackets for supporting said doors, bearings formed on said brackets, and a shaft disposed longitudinally of the car body and supported by said bearings, said shaft having fingers thereon 'so spaced as to act on said hooks successively when said shaft is moved in one direction to force said hooks from a supporting relation withsaid doors to thereby permit said doors to swing to an openposition. a 5. In combination with a, freight car having a plurality of drop bottomdoors, hooks pivotally mountedonthe side of the car for supporting said doors, a shaft disposed longitudinally of the car body having fingers so spaced as to act on said hooks successively when said shaft is moved in one direction to force the said hooks from a supporting relation with said doors and thereby permit said doors to swing to an open position, and further fingers on said shaft for forcing said hooks into locked relation with said doors when said shaft is moved in the opposite direction.

' V 6, In combination with a freight car having a plurality of drop bottom doors, hooks pivotally mounted on the side of the car for supporting said doors, a shaft disposed longitudinally of the car body, clamping fin- V gers on said shaft so disposed as to successively act on said hooks when said shaft is moved 111 one directlon to force sald hooks from supporting relation with sa-id {doors and permit said doors to'swing successively to an open position, furtherv fingers clamped on said shaft 'for forcing said hooks into locked relation with said doorswhen said shaft is moved in theopposite direction, and means for locking the shaftagainst longitudinal movement.

7. In combination with a freight car hav ing a plurality of drop bottom doors, hooks pivotally mountedcon the side of the car 'forsupporting said doors, a shaft disposed longitudinally of the car body and having a plurality of notches formed therein, fingers on said shaft extending into said notches,

said notched portions and said fingers being so disposed along said shaft as to cause said fingers to-successively acton said hookswhen said shaft is moved in one direction to force said hooks from supporting relation with said doors and permit said. doors to swing to an'open position, further notches on said shaft and fingers clamped in said lastnamednotches for forcing said hooks into locked relation with said doors when said shaft is moved in the opposite direction,

and means for locking 'said shaft against longitudinal movement. 1

8. In combination with a: freight car havin g a plurality of drop bottom doors, brack ets mounted on the side of the car, hooks pivotally mounted on said brackets, means secured to the doors adapted to be. engaged by said hooks to thereby supportthe doors,

each of said brackets being providedovith a bearing, a shaft disposed longitudinally of the carbody and supported in said'bearings, means located on said shaft to act on said hooks when" said shaftis moved in one direction toforce said hooks from a supportlng' relation withsaid means formed on said doors, to thereby permit said doors to swing to an open position, further means located on said shaft for forcing said hooks into locked relation with the means formed on said doors to therebylockthe doorsin a closed position when said shaft is moved in the'opposite direction and means for locks ing the shaft against longitudinal movement. r

from door supporting relation With said doors when the shaft is moved in one direction to allow the doors to open and to'force .the hooks into engagement with said doors" to therebylock them in their closed posia tion when the shaft is movedin the opposite direction, means; secured to the end of the shaft for moving said shaft in a forward or rearward direction, and means for lockingthe latter means. r p I 10, In combination with a freight car havets secured tothe side-of the car. body, angle irons secured to the bottoms of the car doors, hooks pivotally mounted on said brackets and respectively engaging an angle iron, said brackets being provided with. depending bearings, a shaft located longitudinally of the car body and supported in said, bearings,

clamping fingers located on said shaft and held against movement relative to said shaft,

the said clamping fingers being so disposed that there will be one to the front: and one to the rearofeach of said hooks, certain of said fingers being adapted to releasesald hooks from engagement; with said angle irons when said shaft is moved in one direotion and other of sa d fingers serving to hold a said hooks in engagement with, said angle irons when said shaftis moved in the oppoing a plurality of drop. bottomdoors, brack- "5 site direction, arotatable,handleclamped :near the end of saidshaft and arranged to be held againstlongitudinal movement in relation to said shaft, and means for locking said handle against rotation when the shaft andfingers are in. their locking position to" thereby lock all of-the doors in their closed and supported position. i

ual door-supporting means pivotally secured to the car body and capable; of individual operation to supporting or releasing position independently of each other, and means co operating. with all of the door-supporting means forsuccessively releasing all of the i doors. I 12. In combination a freight car 'hav- V 11. In" combinationwithafreight car ha V ing a plurality of swinging doors, individ- I V ing a plurality of swinging doors, individual door-supporting means pivotally secured to the car body and capable of movement independently of each other, and slidable means normally having a lost motion connection with all of the door-supporting means for locking all the latter in door-supporting position when said means is moved in one direction and for successively relea ing the doors when said means is moved in the opposite direction. 13. In combination with a freight car havual door-supporting means operatively interposed between each door and the car, a slidable member extending along the car and connecting all of the said door-supporting means, said member being operable to effect release of all of the door-supporting means, the said connecting member having a preliminary movement sutlicient to permit of the independent release of the door-supporting means for individual doors before actuating the said door-supporting means. 7

14-. In combination with a freight car having a plurality of drop bottom doors, a plurality of hooks pivotally mounted on the car body for supporting said doors in closed position, and means for swinging each of said hooks to door releasing position and to locked position, said means comprising simultaneously movable members respectively adapted to engage opposite sides of an adjacent one of said hooks and constituting a lost motion connection therewith.

15. In combination with a freight car having a drop bottom door, a plurality of brackets rigidly mounted on the car body, a plurality of hooks pivotally mounted on the respective brackets and adapted to support said door in closed position, a plurality of means respectively adapted to engage said hooks to swing the latter to door releasing position, a. plurality of means for engaging mg a plurality of swinging doors, individs the respective hooks to maintain the latter in locked position, and means for causing plurality of swinging doors, pivoted hooks operatively interposed between said doors and the car body for supporting said doors in closed position, and mechanism for r0- tating said pivoted hooks, said mechanism being adapted in a single operation to rotate a plurality of said hooks so as to release aplurality of doors successively.

18.. In combination with a freight car having a plurality of swinging doors, a plurality of pivotally supported latching members therefor, and movable means carried by the car body having portions for respectively engaging each of said latching members below the pivot thereof for forcing said members into final door supporting position, said means being movable in the direction of swing of said latching members.

19. In combination, a plurality of dump doors, a latch for each door, means for directly holding said latches in latching position, means operable in one movement for simultaneously locking said latch holding means and in movement in another direction to move said latch holding means in predetermined succession to non-holding position.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

\VILLIAM E. VINE. 

